Papa
by I.wish.upon.a.star
Summary: Their life after the concert. Realisticaly
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes he wondered why he heard the music, wondered why the moon and sun sang and laughed with him. It would seem strange not to hear it, the music that constantly filled the air, but what does total _silence _sound like? Would it surrond him completely like music or would it weigh heavily on his shoulders like sadness and loneliness? What were parents like? He had yet to meet someone with parents, never truly seeing the beauty of a mother-father-and-child caring for each other, loving each other.

Maybe when Mr. Jefferies was finished talking to him he would see them. That was what he was going to do: see his parents. He could feel them near by, hear the soft sorprano and deep baritone that were always intertwinded when he thought of them.

Slipping out of his chair he spoke," I'm going to go now Mr. Jeffries." Mr. Jeffries droped his casework onto the desk the Julliard had provided for him."Evan... we've searched for you. Where could you be going to," and he rubbed his weary eyes as he took in Evan's expression, he couldn't understand why he couldn't leave.

"Goodbye Mr. Jeffries." he whispered as he pressed into the door to the office.

As he walked down the hall he wondered if they would truly want him, Louis and the blonde woman, would they want him like he want them? Maybe they had other lives and other children (a boy named Dexter had told him when he first came to the orphanage that he was there because his step father hadn't wanted him anymore because he was marrying a new woman.), would that happen to him?

As Louis stared down at Lyla's face he wondered why her eyes didn't sparkle now as they had on the concert grounds. Maybe it was the lighting making her eyes seem dull? Yes, that was why, it could be the only reason.

"I'm worried 'bout our boys reaction. I mean we don't really know how he will react now do we..." and he stopped as he heard soft footsteps click down the hall to be followed by a sheepish looking August.

"Hello, how are you... August," and he felt tears come to his eyes when he saw August began to racing toward him and threw himself into Louis' chest and started to weep. Louis held tightly to his son and wept.

August began to murmur against his chest," Can I call you papa?"

Louis let loose a hearty chuckle as he responded," Of course, lad. Can I call you son?"


	2. A New Start

Lyla's heart beat ferociously in its cavity. This magnificent boy was her son, he came from her and he was perfect. From where she was standing she could see his hair; thick like her own and just as wild as Louis'. His eyes were as vivid as the blue forget-me-nots that grew in her apartment's window garden.

And yet he had not gone to her as she had expected, instead he went to Louis with a sense of familiarity. It was Louis who got to comfort their son. Louis had not even known he had fathered a child until five hours ago so what right did he have to comfort Evan. Lyla had agonized over thoughts of him for years and when her suspicions had been confirmed she had moved out here and searched for him so she at least deservered a few private moments with him.

She wasn't able to take it and she turned away from her son, promising to her self that she wouldn't be gone for long, that August and Louis wouldn't even notice that she left. She told her self that she only needed a moment to get herself together and so she slipped out of the prestigious halls of Juliard.

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><p>August sniffled and pressed his face further into his Pa's jacket smelling the smell of strong coffee and something else that smelled of spices. Louis' hand was softly combing thourgh his hair, smoothing out the occasional snarl or knot that he found in the boy's thick hair.<p>

"You calmed down yet, son?"

August lifted his head at the question before appearing to think for a few seconds before replying with a small nod and a quick smile to the man whose eyes were the same blue as his.

"I think I'm fine now, Papa," and he pulled slightly away from his father his shy demeanor returning.

"August is there anything about me you want to know," asked Louis as he continued running his fingers through August's hair, not appearing to notice that August had pulled away at all.

"Yes. Do I have any Uncles or Aunts?"

"Yeah, you do; my sister Imogen and my brother Marshall," said Louis as he began to lead August down the hall to Mr. Jeffries office.

"Oh, are they nice," asked August with a childish gleam in his eyes.

"You could say that," replied Louis with a small laugh as thay walked in to Mr. Jeffries office.

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><p>When Louis and Mr. Jeffries had finally finished talking about what was going to happen to August now that he had been found August had fallen asleep in his chair. Louis picked him up and frowned at himself at August's weight. Waving goodbye to Mr. Jeffries , Louis allowed his mid to drift to Lyla. He wasn't sure if August had noticed her leaving ,let alone her pressence, but he had and it was hard not to run after her but August was his son and he had to come first even if he had so <em>many <em>questions for her to answer.

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><p>Author's Note: Lyla is based on Battered Woman Syndrome so she will seem a little strange because her logic will twisted.<p> 


	3. A place to sleep

Disclaimer: I don't own August Rush. (If I had there would be a sequel.)

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><p>August opened his eyes when he heard a muffled voice shouting.<p>

"Oh, Louis don't tell me that's a gift from your princess," screamed a loud voice tinged with anger and disbelief.

"Marshall. Can you please be quiet, just for a second," asked his Pa.

Marshall as in Uncle Marshall?

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><p>Louis sighed as he approached his apartement door, unknowing of what state Marshall would be in when he opened the door but if the shouting was a hint it wasn't good. He juggled August around in his arms for a second to reach for the doorknob that he knew would be unlocked.<p>

"What have I told you about pitching a hissy fit and leaving the door unlocked Marshall?"

"I'm not in the mood for a lecture from you Louis. What do you think your doing with your life, mate? It had better not include me because I'm sick and _tired_ of taking care of your ungrateful arse. I don't care about what Imogen says, I can't keep coddling you all your life," shouted his brother.

Louis rolled his eyes and stepped into his apartment, feeling August shift in his arms."Marshall I gotta talk to you, just promise me that you want be mad. Alright," and he stepped into his brother's line of sight. Wincing when he saw his brother's face as he took in August's silouette against his shoulder.

"Oh, Louis don't tell me that's a gift from your princess," shouted Marshall as he ran his hand over his face, God his stupid little brother always had some kinda of _shit_ going on.

"Marshall. Can you please be quiet, just for a second," Louis asked as he moved towards his bedroom. It wasn't the best place for August to sleep but it would have to do for now.

Rubbing his son on the back he asked him if he wanted to sleep in his clothes or somethings his .

August replied with a predicted, "Yeah I wanna sleep in something of yours, Pa," causing Louis to smile and reply that he hadn't thought that August's suit would be comfortable to sleep in anyways.

Gently placing August in a thread bare chair, he opened a drawer and pulled out a shirt and and a pair of pants that hadn't fit him right in months.

"I've been meaning to throw these out for a while. Go see if they fit ,yeah," he said as he placed the clothes on August's lap.

"Okay Papa," August murmured quietly before shuffling to the bathroom. When he came out he looked even more wornout than before. Louis directed him to the bed and he climbed in and was asleep just as Louis bent to give him a kiss on his forehead.

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><p>As Marshall watched Louis leave the room with the kid on his shoulder he felt his anger increase in the tiniest bit. Who was this kid and why was he in Louis' apartment?<p>

As he wondered about the boy his feet had unconsciously moved him to Louis' door. He watched him rub the kid's back, watched him give the kid some clothes and he watched Louis kiss him on the forehead. He watched Louis' face as he watched the kid sleep, looking just like their father and it hit him.

"So he's your son, right Louis. You went off and found yourself a happy little family, didn't you mate?"

And his face _burned_. He had never seen Louis move that fast and his punches had never been that powerful.

"Don't you dare Marshall. Not right now, okay. Anytime but now."

"Alright, mate I understand. I'm sorry about this I truly am. I'm just gonna go okay."

"Yeah. Bye Marshall," said Louis as he sat himself in the chair. He was determined to watch August for as long as he could.

He fell asleep at 5 am.

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><p>So I've been meaning to say this: Please review. Even if you don't like the story because its nice to see the response. If it's bad that's okay, if it's good that's even better.<p>

So

Read and Review

(Not just Read!)


	4. Author's Note

Author's Note

Lyla does want to be a caring mother and she will be but at the time I want her to realistic. I mean Lyla's father is verbally abusive and after being hit by a car, which is tramatic enough, Lyla supposedly loses her child and that breakes her heart.

My friend's mother recently lost her baby because he didn't survive birth and at the time she can't stand to look at all the baby clothes she brought, is depressed and can't bare to look at her husband because she feels that she disappointed him by losing his son. We've all been trying to get her to go to therapy so she can be happy again.

So if Lyla never got any therapy, which in itself doesn't mean that the child is forgotten most mothers still think of their dead children everyday, she could still be depressed and not have let go of August's death.

We see many signs in the movie that Lyla is still depressed: She can't bare to pick up her instrument ad still sees hallucinations of August in other people's children. Then years later she gets a call from her father saying that he's had a heart attack and that he has something to tell her: Her son was alive all those years.

Now put youself in her shoes. First you've been verbally abused by you father, then hit by a car, you lose your baby, you have to find a new job because you can't bare to use your old instrument (which is a sign of trama.),your father has a heart attack, you find out your son has been alive all these years, you go to New York because they said that August was at an childrens home to find that he wasn't there, you see him then you realize that he doesn't know you and that he does know Louis then you start to think what if he hates you and that overwhelms you.

So Lyla will get better, she just has to deal with the issues that she should have dealed with when she found out August had supposedly died.

As I said in the first Author's note Lyla will have acute Battered Woman Syndrome. She does care for August and she wants to be a good mother to him but at the time she is a little mentally unstable and is in no way ready for the responsibility of taking care of him. She's got a little more time that she needs to grow up.

Sorry if I offended you with the stand off-ish Lyla.

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><p>Review. Okay.<p> 


	5. A Bundle of Too Big Clothes

When August's eyes first opened he panicked. The ceiling was familiar, looking exactly like the ceiling at the Boy's Home he had been in. Would his father do this; take him back to the home? Had Dexter been right, he hadn't thought that he would be his Pa had seemed to want him. Why would he take him back?

But then he smelled foods he had never smelled before and he realized that where ever he was it wasn't the home and it wasn't the Wizard's place either.

Often at the Wizards there was never any breakfast and if there was any it would already be half eaten or filled with the hairs of someone that he didn't know, someone he was sure the other kid didn't know either, and cold.

At the Home, the only thing to eat at breakfast would be oatmeal and it would be burned and tasteless and so thick it almost didn't make it down his throat and he couldn't move properly for almost an hour because of the fullness in his stomach.

When he was with the Wizard it had been that that he missed the most. Having an extreme fullness in your stomach was preferable to an extreme emptiness. For emptiness makes you think, because you have to distract yourself from the hollow and hungry beast in your stomach unlike fullness in which you simply bask in the weight and warmth of the food in your stomach like a lizard preening himself in the sun, radiating contempt and infections to the poor.

He heard a voice singing and relaxed, he had heard that voice in his music and he knew that it belonged to his Papa. Regardless of the fact that he had never heard his father sing before because he knew it was true.

The belief he had for his Papa without truly knowing him was like telling a little boy that his mommy had been convicted for a crime and asking him how he felt about it. His response would be a quiet," She's my mommy." And confusion will cloud his face and he would ask almost immediately afterwards, "Do you know were my mommy is?" No matter what happened it was known subconsciously that that person, in paticular, was going to take care of them.

It was a childish innocence that all people should feel and yet it was the same thing that got a child kidnapped. The comfort, the empathy, the love, the care; all the things a parent radiates draw in a child and yet it can be twisted so that a child is taken advantage of.

August frowned to himself, 'Since when have I had such thoughts,' he wondered as he pulled himself out of the bed. His too large pants slipped a little down his hips and he bunched them in his hand and sighed in annoyance as he headed toward the direction he heard his Pa's voice coming from.

He slipped out of the room and wandered around touching things and bending to get a better look as he progressed across the room. His gaze stopped on a curious ball that seemed to be made of rubber bands. He picked it up and laughed at the funny texture and pulled on the bands to confirm that they were rubber bands and yelped when it snapped down on his finger.

"You act as if you have never seen a rubber band ball, August." said Louis as he chuckled.

"I haven't Pa," August said and Louis' laughter stopped abruptly. It had been meant as a joke; he hadn't thought that his kid hadn't ever touched a rubber band ball.

Leading August to the kitchen he handed him a plate full of eggs, ham, sausage and a side of green apples. The apples were the only thing he had that was nutritious. The eggs, ham and the sausage were the only foods he had in his house; everything else was liquor and rum.

He had been in the accounting business and he had enough money to afford groceries, he just didn't feel like cooking and had been frequenting the fast food joints and restaurants around his middle class apartment.

"August is there anything else that you haven't experienced before."

"Yeah I guess. I've heard of many things and read many things but I haven't done so many things." And Louis watched as August scrunched his nose up, a trait he had gotten from himself because he knew that he did the same thing when he was about to cry or was at least fighting tears.

He didn't know what to do and he tried to placate his kid before his tears leaked and he would be even more clueless," I'm going to the gym today. Have you ever been to a gym?"

"No."

"Well, you're going today. We're going to have to stop by a store to pick up some workout clothes for you. No matter fact a new wardrobe, August. Ain't that great, kid, yeah?"

August gave him a watery smile sniffed and said, "Yeah."

So Louis strode to the window to get a feel for the weather and stared down at the freak snow on the ground with a growing feeling of despair.

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><p>When Louis' neighbor Mrs. Baggins came back from giving her two dogs a walk she saw Louis and she raised he hand and waved shouting, "Hello Mr. Connelly. The snow was rather unexpected right?" But Louis didn't seem to hear her. He went back down the hall and pulled behind him a little boy bundled in clothes.<p>

He wore a giantic scarf around his head and you could only see his incredible blue eyes and a bundles of clothes were rapped around his thin body and the slack of his belt hung out from underneath his pant's and yet he still was pullng them up.

"Papa it's hot," the little boy commented, tugging at the clothes.

"August, it's cold outside. I don't want you to get sick, okay. Just bare with it until we get outside,"stated Louis as he kneeled to the ground to make sure every inch of the little boy was covered.

"But the scarf is itchy Pa."

Louis sighed and added some slack to his little boys scarf." I know that it's itchy, August, it's wool. I'll take the scarf off in the cab. Okay."

"Okay."

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><p>So can anyone help me with nicknames for August. My best friend says Gus, my little sister says Augie. I don't really like either.<p>

Anyways, review.


	6. A Ride in a Cab

"Papa I thought that I was going to be able to take this off? Pa," August murmured, pulling at the scaf that still was on his head. The cab driver laughed when he saw August and said," Sudden growth spurt, huh. I remeber when my Clarice went through that. Fall of '94. Emptied out my pockets to get her some new clothes. Then emptied my pocket out for her to go to college. Harvard grad'."

Louis had sighed, at least the cab driver was nice. He couldn't imagine if they had gotten a usual cab driver? What would August's reaction have been? God August was so sheltered.

"Yeah, August I'll take the scarf off. Just wait, okay,' he said trying to strech his legs in the small leg space. Sighing, he shifted to face August and began unravelling the scarf around August's neck.

'It's not strangling you right Aug'."

"Who's Aug', Pa?"

"You are okay?"

"My name is August."

"It's just a nickname."

"Oh."

"Listen August it's okay that you didn't know,' Louis said, brushing a hand on his forehead, it _was_ hot. When he had told August that it was a nickname his face had fallen in and he had that expression that he had at the house. The 'I'm about to cry' expression. He couldn't stand when his face looked like that and he only had been with August for a day.

The cab dropped them off in front of the store and he pulled August out of the cab, regreting even taking off August's scarf when he saw the snow melting in his hair.

"Let's go, bud! Let's go..."


	7. A Talk with Mr Jeffries

Sorry that it took me so long to update.

Anyways, thanks for your support. I do want to let everybody know that I will be changing some of the chapters to be in the same headspace I had been when I wrote Chapter 1 and Chapter 5: A Bundle of Too Big Clothes. I will also be looking into really rereading the chapters and fixing the mistakes during this week. Remember to review.

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><p>Lyla felt so ashamed to realize that both Louis and Evan had already spoken to Mr. Jeffries and left with a promise to meet again in three days' time during the period when she had walked out but she had suffered through it because she, herself, needed to talk to Mr. Jeffries because really how dare he let Louis take away <em>her <em>son.

Louis didn't know their son's birthday. Louis didn't know how many days or months Evan had been alive. The only thing about Evan Louis knew was how many years old August was and even then it wasn't approximant.

Surely Mr. Jeffries would understand and call Louis to give her back her son earlier. Surely he would understand…

"Of course he will," she reassured herself as she came to a stop in front of the door Julliard always gave law offices.

"Just take deep breaths, Lyla. You can do this," she told herself as she turned the door knob. Inside she found Mr. Jeffries gathering up the files he had brought with him that he had clearly discussed with Louis if the way that the files were only just beginning to amount to a medium sized pile had anything to say.

"Hello," she muttered.

"Oh, hello Ms. Novacek. I just finished talking with … Louis? He's taken August or really Evan home with him if you didn't know. I know I should have asked you first but August was dead on his feet and he seemed so attached to his father that even separating him from Louis would have been a bad idea. It also seemed that August would be much more comfortable with Louis as he had already met him."

"It's alright but what do you mean Louis already met Evan?"

"From what I could get from August, or Evan, and confirmed by Louis they met today in the park. Really I just wanted August, or Evan, to be comfortable with who ever he went home with. Ms. Novacek. If you want I can call and get Louis to bring him over now."

"No … It's okay. Let Evan sleep. But can you give me Louis' address and phone number, so I can get in contact with them in the morning?"

"Sure. He's got a apartment in … the Lower East Side. Um… Lets see… I can't seem to find the papers but I'll call you in the morning. Honestly I'm really amazed and I just need to go home," said Mr. Jeffries as he slipped the last of the files into his bag.

"Alright," replied Lyla, nodding. She watched as him walk out with a simple wave and a quick smile but inside she was steaming. How could Mr. Jeffries just have given Evan away and why was he referring to Evan as August?


End file.
